French grammar points – Direct, Indirect and Tonic Pronouns Which One Should I use?

Study the following explanations about the difference between the three types of French pronouns and then practice them through the following role play exercises.

Replacing nouns with pronouns makes our use of the language much more fluid and economical. In both English and French, the choice of which pronoun to use is determined by its role in the sentence, i.e. subject, direct object or indirect object, etc. In French the choice is made even a bit more complicated because of the existence of the so-called disjunctive, or tonic, pronouns. Leaving subject pronouns aside, lets look at how you can make the correct choice of whether to use “lui”, “la” or “elle” when you want to say “her” or between “lui” or “le” when referring to “him”.

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Direct Object Pronouns

The direct object is the person or thing that receives the action of the verb in a sentence. To determine the direct object in a sentence, ask yourself the question: Who? or What? Direct object pronouns take the place of the direct object nouns. While a noun that is the direct object follows the verb, the pronoun is instead placed in front of it, for example: Tu prends l’avion (You take the plane), Tu le prends (You take it).

The French direct object pronouns are as follows:

Note: Me, te, and le/la change to m’, t’, and l’ in front of a vowel or mute h.

Indirect Object Pronouns

Indirect objects can only be used for persons and are those people in a sentence to whom the action of the verb occurs. You can determine the indirect object by asking yourself the question, “To whom” or sometimes “for whom”. Many of the verbs of communication (parler, écrire, dire, répondre, demander, téléphoner ) take an indirect object.
I’m talking to Caroline = Je parle à Caroline.
To whom am I talking? to Caroline.

The French indirect object pronouns are as follows:

Note that it is only in the third person singular and plural where there is any difference between the actual form of direct and indirect object pronouns. It is also important to remember that the indirect object pronoun “lui” can mean either “to him” or “to her”.

Like the direct object pronouns, the indirect object pronouns are placed in front of the verb.